Thursday, December 23, 2004

Blood, oil, and Gary Webb's death

Blood

The Mosul bombing likely has some Americans thinking, as they do only when the media reports a mass US casualty event, that Iraq could be Vietnam redux. I wish they'd stop that; this is no time for vainglorious optimism. Iraq is much worse.

It's not just about the clicking of the casualty counter, though it did take the better part of a decade for American casualties in Vietnam to reach the level of "sustainable losses" the US military is now taking in Iraq. Consider this: since just the November 2nd re-selection of George Bush, 200 American troops have been killed and 1,500 wounded. During the invasion's so-called period of "major combat," only 140 Americans lost their lives. (How many Iraqis? An uncounted and irrelevant multitude.) But the neocons want a Hard America; a warrior nation. Losing two or three or 19 recruits a day from the underclass means a bloody nose to them, and what's more, in some respect it's to be welcomed. Because a bully who has tasted his own blood can more easily be driven to ever greater acts of violence.

We need to remember that Vietnam was a "domino." It was a piece in a geopolitical game, and not a very important one at that. Vietnam lied on the fringe of America's sphere of interest. And still it took 58,000 American and millions of Vietnamese lives before it was over. ("Let's call it a draw," I can imagine Henry Kissinger saying to Andrei Gromyko. "Good match. Play again?")

Iraq will never be over, because it's not a domino. Dominating the diminishing oil reserves of the Middle East is not a sideshow; it is the essence of US strategic interest. We're talking about the centerpiece of empire in the New American Century. So this war - and it will not be contained to Iraq - will not be over until the American Empire falls.

Iraq is not Vietnam, because the war won't end with a dash for the helicopter on the roof of the Baghdad embassy. It will end with a dash for Marine One on the grounds of the White House.

"Mount Weather, soldier, and step on it!"

Oil

The geopolitical game being played today could be described as the endgame of the Industrial Age, at least so far as petroleum and natural gas are concerned. And no one is playing it with as much cunning, and perhaps grace under pressure, as China. As Richard Heinberg reports in Powerdown, in 2003 China accounted for a third of the world's growth in oil demand, and by 2030 it is expected to have more cars than the US and importing just as much oil. Since China's largest oilfied by far only produces 50 million tons a year, and is declining, where is it all going to come from? Into whose energy needs will its imports cut?

Just look at the headlines from the past several days:

Dec 19: China Says Growth May Top 9% This YearChinese President Hu Jintao said Sunday economic growth could exceed nine percent this year and foreign direct investment could top $60 billion. ..."Foreign trade volume for this year is expected to top $1.1 trillion. FDI is expected to top $60 billion this year." China has set an 8 percent growth target for 2005 and aims to peg inflation at around 4 percent, illustrating its eagerness to steer the economy to a soft landing.

Dec 20: China's Thirst for Oil Undercuts U.S. Effort on IranU.S. efforts to rein in Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program through economic sanctions are being stymied by China's increasing reliance on the Islamic nation for oil. The U.S. has tried for more than a year to get the United Nations Security Council to impose restrictions that might deter Iran from building an atomic bomb; China, which holds one of five vetoes on the council, is threatening to block those attempts. At the same time, a decades-long U.S. economic embargo of Iran is being undermined by a growing China-Iran trade partnership, highlighted by a $70 billion deal in October for oil and gas.

Dec 20: Chavez Heads to China to Expand Venezuela Energy TiesVenezuelan President Hugo Chavez will travel to China tomorrow in a bid to broaden energy ties with the world's fastest growing economy, Venezuela's foreign minister said. Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil supplier, is seeking to shift exports away from the U.S. and is in a position to supply growing demand from China, Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez said at a press conference in Caracas. Chavez, 50, will travel with Energy and Mines Minister Rafael Ramirez, a ministry spokesman said.

Dec 22: Putin hints at Yukos China linkChina could play a part in developing the oil production assets of Russian firm Yukos, which were sold to a mystery bidder on Sunday. Speaking during a trip to Germany, President Putin suggested that China - a major buyer of Yukos oil - could play some rule in the unit's future under its new owner. According to the Financial Times, President Putin said that the Chinese firm had not taken part in the controversial auction but had recently signed a memorandum of co-operation with Gazprom regarding oil projects in Russia. Gazprom told the Financial Times: "There is a real energy boom in Asia and particularly in China. In developing Gazprom....the eastern direction has been identified as a priority."

Dec 23: China in Line as U.S. Rival for Canada OilChina's thirst for oil has brought it to the doorstep of the United States. Chinese energy companies are on the verge of striking ambitious deals in Canada in efforts to win access to some of the most prized oil reserves in North America. The deals may create unease for the first time since the 1970's in the traditionally smooth energy relationship between the United States and Canada.

And the US? "In effect," Heinberg writes, "China sells Americans cheap goods, then lends the money with which to buy them." And while Washington's emboldened and blinded idealogues wargame and construct a familiar flimsy case to justify aggression against Iran, China - and Russia, too - draw a line in the sand around Iran, and outflank the neocons on every front save for the military. And that gap can only close over the course of decades as the US bankrupts itself. Which puts the world in an extraordinarily precarious situation. But you already knew that.

For a metaphor, think of the solar life cycle.

If the United States is a main-sequence empire, then it has reached the red giant stage, having exhausted the resources of its youth and midlife. Its economy, its fiscal vitality, its moral capital are all spent. It is staking everything on the "full spectrum dominance" of its military, and it is burning that feverishly. Like a red giant, its imperial bloat is a sign of decay, not health. And its destiny is to fail. Collapse is inevitable. Possibly, given its size, into a black hole, which could suck the whole world in after it.

Even failing the worst case, this world is unsustainable, and should be unrecognizable in 50 years.

Final Thoughts on Gary Webb

I won't say "case closed," because that's positively Posnerian, but the best evidence now suggests that Gary Webb did indeed take his own life.

I believe a good working hypothesis for the Bush years is to assume that nothing is as it first appears. After all, nothing, neither substantial nor inconsequential, said by Bush or his thugs has been found true, and virtually every one of their official narratives is a tapestry of outrageous lies. I give no benefit of the doubt to this crowd. So when a terrorist attack serves the greater interests of the Grand Imperial Octopus, or potential threats to the cabal suffer accidental death or are said to have taken their own lives, my first assumption will continue to be, They Did It.

Naturally, with such a sweeping presumption, sometimes they won't have done it. Not in the actionable sense. And while it can be said the machinery of state and its MOCKINGBIRD media did kill Gary Webb, it does appear he did, indeed, pull the trigger of his own volition. (And yes, even twice: the first bullet missed his brain, and exited his jaw.)

Michael Ruppert has posted his thoughts on Webb's memorial service, and makes a vigorous case for the wounds having been self-inflicted. But it was Lisa Pease's heartfelt, well-told and sad account that settled the issue for me. (Pease makes a cameo in Dark Alliance by forwarding to Webb a 30-year old story that reveals his early critic, The Washington Post's Walter Pincus, to have been a CIA asset.)

We don't want Gary Webb's death to have been a suicide. If he must be dead, then it's an odd comfort of sorts, conforming to our diminished expectations of justice, to imagine him a martyred hero. And though he's no less a hero, it doesn't seem that's the story Webb left us. So unless some evidence appears to overturn it, this is where my speculation regarding his death ends.

On the last page of Dark Alliance Webb wrote, "One of the questions I have been asked many times since this story broke is this: Now that the facts are out there, what can we do? My answer, depressing and cynical as it may be, is always the same. Not much. Not now."

The burden of bearing something like the truth while criminals in high places go unpunished is hard enough. Webb was punished for telling a truth that was never meant to be told. It crushed him, and it killed him. We can begin to honour his memory by recognizing the truth of his death, life and work, and passing it on. We dishonour his memory, and our own purpose, if we prefer to spin a speculative legend.

1405 Comments:

Jeff-- you knocked this one out of the park. I couldn't agree with you more -- sadly to say.

As far as "bearing the truth", this is something I think about a lot. Actually, an old Simpsons episode I watched last night sort of brought this home for me (mostly I watch it because it is my son's favorite show)-- but the episode was where Lisa Simpson discovers the dark truth about the past of her town's iconic and revered founder Jebediah Springfield. I won't go into the details, but what was relevant to my point here was at the end, Lisa had a chance to tell the whole town the truth about Jebediah, during a town celebration. However, she finally passed up the chance because she didn't want to make everyone feel bad.

And to some extent, I just wonder if this is the way it is. Some people WANT the truth, and they will seek it out, and hopefully they can handle it.

Other people simply don't want to deal with the truth. Can we really force it upon them?

Some people of course want to know the truth and simply don't know who to believe or to trust. These are the people we need to reach out to.

And of course-- if the truth has to do with the government getting away with evil deeds, then we have have a responsibility to speak out, as small as our voices are.

Unfortunately, most Americans prefer not to listen-- probably becuase both political parties are complicit in the madness that goes on in this country today. Ignoring evil is a bipartisan act.

Of course, in terms of some of the issues you raise, some fundamentalist Christians WANT things fucked up. Bring on that Rapture!!!!

I guess what is not clear to me is if Bush and Cheney have bought into that whole Revelations/end times mythology. They SEEM to THINK they are Christian. I can't tell if it is all a very cynical act, or if they really believe that fundy nonsense. If the latter, then it would explain a fair amount.

anonymos One here,if you feel like your back is against the wall,and things are shitty now. Don't forget the Temple Mount Faithful have a birthday celabration on the 4-8-05,oil will be the last thing you will have to worry about,that Red Heifer is ready to bring in the new reality.Soon we'll all be looking for a good pawn shop.

A friend of mine kindly sent me a link to this page because he is aware that I am a seeker of the truth—as he is—and a fan of the bravery and investigative prowess of Gary Webb. Like my friend, I have been following the tragic story of Gary Webb’s death and the now, apparently, unfounded conspiracy theories surrounding it.

The statement that “Iraq is much worse” than Vietnam is absurd on it’s face, completely out of context, and hysterical insofar as it fails to account for the extraordinary successes so far seen in Iraq. Consider WWII, in which the United States lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers before Japan and Germany were defeated. In fact, we were prepared to invade the home island of Japan and fully expecting upward of one million American casualties to do so. The development of the atomic bomb and it’s deployment obviated the need for such an appallingly costly invasion. Iraq was conquered in less than three months with—as of this writing—just more than a thousand casualties. Afghanistan was invaded and the Taliban driven from power also in several months with several hundred American casualties.

You may recall that the armchair general claimed that since the Soviet Union couldn’t defeat the mujhahadeen of Afghanistan after trying for eight years, and finally being driven out in defeat, that the U.S. would suffer the same fate. For the Soviets, Afghanistan was truly their Vietnam. Iraq is not Vietnam. This seems a favorite tool of critics: to bring always back the ghost of Vietnam whenever American troops are deployed anywhere in the world. Anyone more than a casual observer to the conflict in Iraq will have read the reports of the soldiers on the ground that, in the main, describe the Iraqi people as appreciative of our sacrifices and delight at having being liberated from the dictator Saddam Hussein. For those unaware, there is a benefit in having rape rooms closed and mass graves no longer being filled with tens of thousands of innocents. Every American casualty suffered in Iraq or Afghanistan is a loss that all of America suffer. The author’s assertion that all of our troops are from the “underclass” is simply false. Consider the countless thousands who volunteered after 9-11 from all levels of society. Consider the football player Pat Tillman who eschewed a multi-million dollar professional football contract to volunteer in the military to selflessly serve his country. Clearly Pat Tillman was not a member of the so-called “underclass” identified in Mr. Wells’ article. There is no question that the greatest threat to American security and stability comes from the Arab world. American efforts to punish those behind 9-11 or who would threaten us with weapons of mass destruction—if and when they acquire them—is a legitimate and necessary use of American power.

The thought of Arab tyrannies, dictatorships, and theocracies being replaced with stable democracies that are beneficial to the entire population, and not just the ruling class, is a positive one. The current hyperviolent insurgency ongoing in Iraq is not evidence of a rejection of democracy by the Iraqi people. The active move toward elections in January and the sacrifices that so many Iraqis are making to bring this election about demonstrates the support of the bulk of the Iraqis. The violent murderers do not represent the Iraqi people nor any regime in particular. Rather, they represent a vicious, intolerant and savage ideology that justifies the most reprehensible inhumane acts to further their supranational objectives. In fact, the leading humanitarian worker in Iraq—a British woman in her fifties who gave over twenty years of her life in service to those people—was kidnapped, held hostage and beheaded by these killers because of who she was, what she represented, and the terror that such a crime would strike into others with similar humanitarian purposes.

Not since Nazism and Stalinism has an ideology justified so many acts of brutality and cruelty.

Fundamentalist Islam is by far older than Nazism and, after 9-11, apparently feels emboldened that their time is now. Fighting against those who want to kill us, countering those who would eradicate our country and those who support us, is not a component of “American Imperialism”. Bringing democracy to the Middle East is beneficial to those who live under it and to the United States itself.

Mr. Wells’ statement that control of the oil reserves in the Middle East is the essence of American foreign policy in this “New American Century” is a confusion and not a statement of fact. Unfortunately, oil is a fundamental necessity in modern industrialized society. One can neither have gasoline for one’s vehicle nor fuel to heat one’s home in the winter without oil. Essentially, oil is a fundamental necessity of life in America. Therefore, it’s the responsibility of the government to acquire oil so that its citizens will not freeze to death. In addition, the government could present an alternative fuel or power source to replace oil. However, such a replacement process would probably take five to ten years or more. Oil is critical now. With that having been said, the idea that the United States is in Iraq solely to acquire control of its oil fields is an idea that neglects the events around 9-11 and the previous attacks on American targets around the world. Ongoing attacks against Americans and American allies is more than enough proof that we are at war with a virulent and hateful ideology. The invasion of Iraq is a direct result of these attacks culminating in 9-11.

For those who would counter this argument by saying that Iraq and al Quaeda were not linked and therefore Iraq was not involved in 9-11, I would respond by saying this: Saddam Hussein (before he was rightfully deposed)—like the current theocratic tyranny in Iran—made his intentions regarding the United States absolutely clear. No reasonable person would challenge the assertion that if Saddam had built or acquired nuclear or biological weapons of mass destruction, he would have used them against the United States, or sold or given them to a group that would have done so in his stead. This is why the Bush doctrine of preemption is absolutely valid. Because, once our enemies obtain nuclear weapons, it’s too late. North Korea is a perfect example. Had Bill Clinton displayed the same sense of character, purpose, and resolve that Bush does in his dealings with the North Koreans, North Korea may not have been given the opportunity to develop nuclear weapons.

The war in Iraq is neither an expansion of the “American Empire” nor a move towards ownership or control of Iraqi resources. A nation at war in self-defense, as we are, against a cruel and determined enemy ought not to be criticized for that self-defense. Mr. Wells’ characterization of the world being unsustainable is an accurate one if fundamentalist Islam is unchecked. Consider a world in which the United States and Europe were overrun by Islamists. This may be the world in which Mr.Wells would like to live. It absolutely is not the world I or anybody I know would like to live in.

Thank you for this opportunity to post to your site. The death of Gary Webb is evidence that not every event is a conspiracy or constructed with multiple layers of meaning and purpose. Some things are—as hard as it is to believe—actually black and white.

james longstreet:you are appallingly uninformed about what is happening in both Iraq and Afganistan. you, as we say, have been drinking the coolade and so there is no arguing with you until you show some semblance of critical thought and some awareness of actual facts.

It is unfortunate that you mentioned Tillman's name. The US military, being so desperate for a positive story (any sort of positive story)coming out of iraq manufactured a heroic tale about Tillman death. The sorry sad truth is that he was killed by US fire.

Excellent suggestion. I think I will do that. Ooops, already have, and your suggestion proves my point totally. The Muslim Brotherhood is an extremist reactionary Islamist organization feared by almost every Arab "government". These folks are agents of terror and reaction who'd rather live in the 14th century than today. Apparently you support their purposes, not here.

Perhaps you should read David Pryce-Jones, "Closed Circle" and Serge Trifkovic's "Sword of the Prophet". In addition, you might want to review this web site for some context and background on the current situation in the world: http://www.prophetofdoom.net.

The assertion that I've drunk from the Jonestown "Kool-Aid" is a repellent image and disrespectful of the Jonestown victims. Like most on the left, you are unaware that we are in the beginning stages of what could become WW3.

As you criticize the government for waging war for oil, perhaps you ought to switch to firewood and coal - just so that you're consistent. That's the problem, in general with the hard left, so much criticism, so much ignorance, so much hot air and high emotion, yet tempered with equal servings of hypocrisy, inconsistency and ad hominem responses to those who engage in the debate in good spirit from the opposing side. Not everything in the world is about Halliburton, conspiracies and multi-layers of criminality.

You're right about the character of the MB, but I'm not talking about the overt ideology of Islamism so much as I am about its financing, support and broader geopolitical function:

"[The Muslim Brotherhood] It is the preeminent movement in the Muslim world," said Graham E. Fuller, a former CIA official specializing in the Middle East. "It's something we can work with." Demonizing the Brotherhood "would be foolhardy in the extreme," he warned.http://tinyurl.com/65pef

Also, perhaps only indirectly related, you might want to think about what Paul Wolfowitz means by "friendly militias": http://tinyurl.com/45lu5

Apparently, everything didn't change on 9/11, at least not at the higher levels of policymaking. You seem to have some familiarity with the so-called war on drugs. Well, the so-called war on terror is its evil twin: a vicious, hypocritical lie.

LongStreet:be repelled if you wish but the origin of coolade/Koolade/Koolaid/... is multifold including the Tom Wolfe effort about Ken Kesey titled "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test". (i.e. LSD, i.e. someone like you who is is halucinating . . .)It currently means someone who is overly optimistic about an outcome.

You say we're on the verge of WW3. How would such a conflagration be possible without the codified and deliberate escalation by the US in international tensions? Why is the US provoking an anemic "military" foe, more primitive by a magnitude of decades, by both invoking "knowledge" of terrorism occurring worldwide on a regular basis in its own people and stoking the fear that nothing but the push button brutality of "our own" military in full-effect could ever possibly quell? All this of course, while we simultaneously grease the wheels which force desperate people into committing acts of terrorism/activism. Where is this getting us as a species with a future?

For instance, why does terrorism always need financing?

Who's financing the terror and why would anything as heinous as terror ever become profitable? Ask yourself: Who ever could it be who would recognize terror's effectiveness first? If you didn't answer that with a heady "My government", you my friend JL, have absolutely no faith in the dystopian revolutionaries you clearly worship.

The planet and its people is run by wealthy elites who want to see outcomes and results in their strategic plays for the dwindling resources of our planet Earth. It's this elite grid of power brokers who refuse to think outside of the box. The box JL, is one you seem to be currently imprisoned in. There are actually solutions. But this is only if you are able to rebuke their just-so myths of nationalistic comedy and look at the box you are in from every mindbending perspective you can muster. Remember there's a reason some people don't laugh at cruel jokes played upon others.

Once you begin thinking about what that reason may be, you will find yourself halfway there.

The solution to avoiding a calamity such as a, heaven forbid, "WWIII", (the concept of which all situational moralists, such as yourself, seem to oddly relish) -- is to engage a nation, region or perhaps, even, the entire planet's populace in solving the pressing problems we face. Ahhhh but! Yeah, it would take some money and some effort. Hence, the impossibility of peace.

It is imperative that the people of the planet, again, such as yourself JL, simmer in miserable acids and dreadful wastes of your and our time. Everybody in unison giving up on the prospect that each and everyone of us can and will get along when we must (see: the concentrated populations of economically viable cities)is a boon to the current rot spreading throughout the common good -- especially in how we do business. Could anything be more corrupt and confusing and predatory than how we as Americans do our business with one another?

You show me an American who unconditionally respects other humans they do "business" with and I'll show you an anti-empire, anti-war liberal. Anything and everybody else is fraud and/or apathy.

Gotta agree with JL. Unconditional respect? Ludicrous. If you know anything about Islamofascism, you know that the only way to beat it is to do just that-beat it. I assume you would think that more diplomacy is the answer? Figure out all of the possible "root causes", and then fix it all?

Alan Dershowitz, who can never be accused of being anything but a liberal, wrote a great book called "Why Terrorism Works". There is no dealing with those people. Bringing democracy to the Middle East is the only thing that will change that region.

Geopolitics is an ugly game. We do what we can when we can. This does not mean that we "relish" the fact that WWIII may not be too far ahead. It means that we have a spine and face our enemies and fight them on their turf, not ours. If these nutcase Islamists didn't preach what they preach. . . the world would be a much better and much more peaceful place.

You may choose not to accept the truth. It doesn't change what the truth, in fact, is.

The first step in any actual fight Islamism, of course, is to stop supporting it. And we haven't. Only the rhetoric has changed. Unfortunately, we apparently still need "our SOB's" for the 'stans. It would seem the general tactic is to covertly support the most vile and backwards of reactionaries, who then cause so much horror that they force populations to rally around the slightly more genteel reactionaries who are pulling the strings. It's quite a balancing act, and I wonder how long it can last. Call it the Plan Columbia model, if you don't want to believe in 9/11 conspiracies.

Anyway, Gary Webb fans still reading this thread may be interested in this blog for info on Texas Justice issues, police and government corruption, the drug war, civil liberties issues, etc. A snippet:

After all, if the cameras have resolution high enough to capture license plate numbers from a moving car, they're sharp enough to capture someone's face through the windshield, and once the Texas Department of Public Safety has biometric data on every driver, in theory, government will be able to identify you from those pictures.http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/

Gary Webb was murdered. Mike Ruppert is disinformation. There are far too many suspicious aspects to the death of Gary Webb to sweep under the rug.Namely the suicide note, namely the moving company, namely the specific information about Gary selling his house for a specific sum of money, namely he was going to move in with his grandmother, and of course the 2 gunshots or was it shotgun blasts to the head.

As for Ruppert, he is a loose cannon anddisinformation artist. If anyone has gone to Wing TV they can read the entire sad story about Mike "Peak Oil" Ruppert. Or, they can go to Madcowprod.com and read about his hook-up with Kashoggi

Mike Ruppert does something that Alex Jones, Mr. Hankey and others on the fringe of the fringe seem allergic to -- fact checking their reports before they publish.

It is fascinating that as Mike's book was published, a whispering campaign started among some fringe websites claiming that Mike supported the official story of 9/11 (serendipity, among others), that Peak Oil has nothing to do with 9/11 complicity (the Holocaust Denial supporting John Kaminksi, among others), or that Mike is secretly in league with international fraudsters. None of these smears dare address any of the substance in "Crossing the Rubicon," and one can safely assume that most of the smears are from the fed.gov, although it is true that these topics tend to attract a fair number of people whose enthusiasm is greater than their ability to check facts.

I think given the choice of Alex Jones who makes up stories about conspiracies that are often not true versus Gary's family, I'll take the latter. Not all claims of conspiracy are true, and Webb's family is unanimous that this really was a suicide. Pseudonymous and bogus articles on websites of poor reliability (rense / infowars) are not sufficient to overturn the conclusion of the family members.

Alex Jones / Infowars has been promoting a fair number of hoaxes about 9/11 complicity, especially in the past year. see http://www.oilempire.us/bogus.html and http://www.911review.com (not org) for more on these hoax campaigns.

JOHN JUDGE - This is a reply I got from Kurt Webb, Gary Webb's brother.The family has already cleaned the house out and moved to cremate thebody. I hope they will preserve Gary's papers and investigative filesfor future work. Some have pitted the family's need for closure againstJohn Hankey's concern for an independent review of the facts, and thatis unfortunate in my view. The truth is the issue, though we may neverfully know it save for the word of the family and the contentions ofsome researchers around the case. . .

KURT W. WEBB - I do not know you, and I do not know if my brother knewyou. You may have had sincere intentions in propagating the email, butplease desist. As I have personally told many others, there is nothingfurther to investigate.

The facts are conclusive- he committed suicide. There is muchinformation which I do not care to share at this point in time, if ever,that shows what were his intentions. It was unfortunate that theinformation was not known beforehand as the family could have attemptedto intervene. Thank you .

http://realhistoryarchives.blogspot.com/2004/12/gary-webbs-memorial-service.html As each new person entered, Mike Ruppert quietly and quite delicately, I’ll add, asked all the appropriate questions, and pointed out the rumors that had been floating on the Internet. Each family member in turn confirmed yes, suicide, no question. Yes, there were two gunshots, but the first one so missed the brain that Gary had to shoot again. Yes, Gary had left a suicide note. When Ruppert mentioned some suggested the suicide note was a forgery, Susan’s eyes flew wide with shock, as she said there’s NO way that was a forgery. She said he had written each of his children a personal note. He had sent boxes to his Mother’s house, but she thought that was just temporary because he was moving. But he sent her things like his baby shoes, and so forth. He knew he wasn’t moving.

More on "WINGnut TV" (disinfo smears about Mike Ruppert)A shoddy effort to discredit Ruppert's work while ignoring the information in "Crossing the Rubicon"

WINGnut TV's main person, who writes under the pseudonym Victor Thorn, also wrote a short book titled "Christ Killers." In other words, there's no need to pay any attention to "WINGnut TV's" rants.

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/10questions.shtmlA very good rebuttal to the worst and sleaziest attacks.

http://911review.com/wingtv/markup/hoffman.htmlAnother excellent writer refutes still more nonsense from "Wing TV"

From a review posted to amazon.com

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:Beware: Anti-Ruppert Campaign Has Started!, November 11, 2004Reviewer:Mike Ruppert is unquestionably a great American hero. His book, Crossing the Rubicon, is the single most important book written in the last fifty years at least. The Patriot Act, Homeland Security and the lies about WMDs in Iraq have created a growing sense of unease in the collective unconscious. As a result, a growing number of intellectuals and every day citizens are begining to see the Truth and more and more people are begining to wake up every day. Crossing the Rubicon is at the forefront of this new awareness. Most reviewers here have already done a great job summarizing the content of Mike's book. The many five star reviews are well deserved.I want to write a note about the campaign to discredit Mike Ruppert and his book, a campaign which has apparently begun full blast. Another reviewer has already correctly noted how the few one-star reviews on this site follow the standard rules of organized disinformation campaigns. Through the use of innuendo, character assasination, and classic misdirection, several reviewers make it appear that the book rests its case on a handful of issues, such as the Vreeland case. In fact, all 696 pages are saturated with enough well documented and diverse evidence to prove the 911 criminal conspiracy many times over while adhering to the highest possible journalistic standards. Mike makes a case that could actually hold up in a court of law, whereas the establishment case for 911 could not even hold up in a high school debate. Quite a pathetic comment on the state of our society but I digress.The most comically pathetic aspect of the disinformation campaign is a new "conspiracy website TV show" which proceeds to slam Ruppert in a laughable thirty-minute video. They make such shocking claims that Ruppert is "rude...impolite...a liar, blah, blah, blah" without offering anything substantive to back up their "claims". Anyone with even a degree of clear perception can clearly see that these people are either operatives with very poor acting skills or low grade actors hired by operatives. The lack of sincerity in their eyes, their nervous body language and laughable "faux-left-wing" wardrobe and demeanor betray an obvious Wag the Dog operation. A little research into their website and published books indicate that the entire operation has been slapped together in the last few months, no doubt to coincide with the publication of Crossing the Rubicon. This type of thing might fool the sheeple who think CNN is their friend. But those of us who have already seen the underbelly of the Propaganda Beast can only shake our heads in sad amusement. What a joke. Ruppert is wise to simply briefly address their libel on his own site but otherwise ignore them.As Crossing the Rubicon gains ground, one can only imagine what new lows the disinformation campaign will hit. What's next? Websites that scream: Mike Ruppert Married Satan and Gave Birth to a Pink Alien Octopuss who Molested your Mother!! Don't TRUST HIM!!Hang in there Mr. Ruppert. Heroes are rarely recognized in their own time. You may or may not get the adulation you deserve in this lifetime but your work will help many people survive the coming storm.Generations will owe you.

We all feel the loss. However Webb would be screaming mad at his family for believing he killed himself - especially his kids - and especially with the 2 gunshots for crying out loud. How obvious can it get. He would want the kids to be fighters like him. Webb was giving interviews up to his death, and was about to release a new book. That doesn't sound depressed to me. Whatever 'notes' he may have sent could have been forced at gunpoint. His own mother would not remember the exact type of baby shoes he wore after 50 years - a kill team could have mailed her just about anything. Or Lisa could be lying (sorry, just considering here, the web is full of Mockingbird agents, as Webb knew). We also know Webb reported black ops guys scrambling around his place just prior to his death.

Now here's the kicker. If it was suicide, then surely the family will publish Webb's final work or donate it and supporting documents (gov leaks) to the public domain. That would be a fitting tribute. If not, then you have your answer about Webb's death.

Black ops folks use carrots and sticks to deal with family members. I guarantee agents attended the funeral. It sounds to me like the family had a rather serious visit. No wonder they couldn't detect Webb's depression - it didn't exist. His friends didn't see it either. If my son were suicided and I knew it, then black ops came to my door and said "tell people he did it, or you're next" that I would say what I was told to say in front of the agents at the funeral.

The petty attack on Alex Jones made me chuckle because he was almost "first on the scene" with radio interviews of Webb's close friends (like the Sr. DEA agent for South America who talked about Murder and Drugs Inc. aka USA) and even got the scoop about what Freeway Ricky Ross said and thought from prison. He also showed the contradictions in the news reports and even Webb's friends agreed about the ridiculous double shotgun blasts. Jones is an awesome fact-checking journalist and spends most of his time just reading and comparing mainstream news reports and talking to eyewitnesses. Rense has been in TV news and knows exactly how fake it is. Webb loved and admired them both.

Gary Webb was suicided because he was about to write a book on the Jewish Mafias control of South American drugs. Hugo Chavez is about to destroy this ring due to the hatred he has of the Bush admin. and right wingers empowering of Israel(Israel has been instrumental in aiding Right Wing death squads and arming the Contras). Gary Webb caused to much of a stir against the CIA to the point that they admitted involvement with drug dealing in Los Angeles. The Mossad is more than likely who did it much to the delight of the right wingers within the CIA . The CIA has expert suicide letter writers. They will get away with it because anyone questioning it will be labeled a conspiracy wacko. I only wonder if they killed him by gunshot to make it more personal. It is more like the Mossad and CIA to kill by undetectable poisons that make people die of supossed natural causes.

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